by Staff WritersThe Hague (AFP) Dec 24, 2010
A Dutch navy supply ship was on its way to the Ivory Coast to provide support to French vessels off the coast of the troubled west African nation, the defence ministry in The Hague said on Friday.

The Amsterdam, with its 172 crew, was loading cargo in Malaga, Spain, and would depart for Dakar, Senegal, in the coming days to stock up on further provisions, ministry spokeswoman Marloes Visser told AFP.

"We expect that the ship will arrive off the coast of the Ivory Coast around the end of the year," she said.

It will serve as a supplier of mainly food and fuel to French ships, about whose mission Visser could not divulge any details.

In a statement earlier, the Dutch foreign ministry said the French government had asked the Netherlands to provide maritime support "in the context of France's coordinating role in the protection of citizens of EU member states in the turbulent Ivory Coast".

The French foreign ministry declined to make any comment on the Dutch boat's mission.

Africa: A continent in constant conflictAbidjan, Ivory Coast (UPI) Dec 22, 2010
Ivory Coast, the West African state that is the world's top cocoa producer, is on the brink of civil war - its second in a decade - amid mounting violence triggered by a disputed presidential election.
But the political and tribal turbulence in the former French colony, once a model of stability which was torn by north-south civil war in 2002-03, is only a small part of the tempest of ... read more

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